Q&A with Josef Newgarden

After showing speed for a couple of years in the Verizon IndyCar Series, Josef Newgarden broke through with his first career victory at Barber Motorsports Park in April. The 24-year-old talked about his path to IndyCar, what it’s like to have a stranger name a baby after him, and one of the scariest things he’ll ever do in racing with Chris Jenkins, Special to USA TODAY Sports.

Q: What was it like to win your first race? When you put so much work into building a career, can you describe what it’s like for that to pay off?

Newgarden: “It was a big deal. I was so happy we got it over with, just finally got a win on the sheet for us. Really, for the team, too. I’ve been with this group since 2012 when I first started in IndyCar, and we had been so close to winning races over the last couple of years. We’ve been knocking on the door, and just never been able to fully seal the deal and get a victory for whatever reasons that came up. I was just really happy for the team, because we finally got it done.”

Q: With the name Josef, and being an IndyCar driver, do people sometimes assume you’re from a different country?

JN: “Yeah, I think more so with the spelling of my name. It’s not like it’s a weird spelling, it’s just not as common in North America. So people don’t recognize it immediately. My mother is Danish, so I’m half Danish, but born in Nashville, Tennessee, and my dad’s from New York. I’m an American (laughs), but hopefully people later on will start thinking of it as a normal name.”

Q; Was it odd growing up in Tennessee, and trying to become a race car driver — but not a NASCAR driver? What did your friends think?

JN: “It was weird when I was a kid. Everyone thought what I wanted to do was quite strange. I played baseball for 13 years of my life as a kid, and that was much more understandable and normal when I was in middle school and high school. But when I was going off trying to race go karts, when I was 13 years old, it was just so different that I don’t think people understood it. I always loved anything motorized ever since I was a two-year-old kid, and always wanted to do something with a go kart or anything with an engine. When I was 13, I finally got that opportunity with my parents. And since I did that, I didn’t want to do anything else.”

Q: You were pretty good in GP3. Was there a decision that had to be made regarding F1 or IndyCar?

JN: “I was in England and I really wanted to work up the ladder to F1. It reached the point where there wasn’t enough support, I didn’t have the sponsorship to race in Europe and you really have to have substantial backing from whatever it is, corporations or investors or something to help you into Formula One right now, just with the way the economy works. In North America, I got an offer to drive in Indy Lights for Sam Schmidt. He really helped me into a Lights car because I didn’t have the sponsorship to race Indy Lights, either. Sam was the one that really made it possible for me to come back to America and race Indy Lights. That was why I made the decision. He made it happen, really. And that kind of springboarded me into IndyCar racing.”

Q: So do you rule out F1 at this point, or is that still something you’re interested in pursuing?

JN: “I don’t think I’d rule anything out. F1, it’s still super intriguing to me. I’ve always loved Formula One. But I also love IndyCar. I love what IndyCar’s got going on. I don’t think there’s any better racing on the planet right now than IndyCar. They have so much good going for them that I don’t think you’re going to get anything better anywhere else you go. But the intrigue of Formula One is still there. I’d never say never. If the right opportunity came up, I’d definitely have a strong look at it.”

Q: So do you like your chances in the Indianapolis 500?

JN: “I think this year we should have as good a chance as anyone. I feel really strong about our team, specifically getting to work with Ed Carpenter, double pole winner over the past two years. He’s obviously on top of his game in terms of oval races. I feel positive. I feel we’ll have just as good a car as anyone else, and I’ll have great teammates to lean on with not just Ed, but we also have J.R. Hildebrand as well. So we’re kind of Team America going up against the guys at Penske and Ganassi, but we’ll have just as good a shot at taking home the victory as they do.”

Q: For those of us who will never know, what’s it like to drive into Turn One at Indy after the green flag drops?

JN: “Turn One at Indy is one of the scariest things you’ll ever do, regardless of if there’s a grandstand full of people or not. It only gets harder when the grandstands get filled up. You lose your perception of how much room there is in Turn One. Normally, it’s quite open when there’s no one in the stands. When the race comes around and you fill it up with 300-plus thousand people, it narrows Turn One’s perception up, and it becomes pretty small. And it gets a lot more tricky to figure out where to place the car and drive through the corner. Especially with all 33 cars around you trying to do that in a race situation makes it pretty scary.”

SPEED ROUND

Q: Favorite track you’ve ever driven on?

JN: “I don’t think I have a favorite. I like any track I race on. They’re all fun to me. IMS is really special. For an oval track, it’s my favorite. Not just because it’s Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It’s a track that never gets old, you can run laps and laps around IMS and each lap doesn’t get old and it doesn’t get processional, you’re always learning something. And on street courses, I’ve always loved Long Beach for the atmosphere and the way it’s laid out.”

Q: One track you’ve never raced on that you’d love to try?

JN: “I’d love to race IndyCars at Road America.”

Q: First street car you ever owned?

JN: “I’ve never actually owned a car! I’ve always driven my parents’ cars. Now I drive a Chevy Tahoe because I’m a Chevy guy. The first car I drove was a Mercury Mountaineer.”

Q; What is your favorite city in the world?

JN: “I don’t think I have a favorite city. I’ve always loved St. Augustine in Florida. It’s got a really cool feel. I like visiting there, it’s very relaxed, it’s got such a cool vibe with not just its history, but the way people live there. It’s on the ocean. They’ve got some really cool stuff you can see there, they’ve got these really cool ghost town tours and restaurants.”

Q: One celebrity you’ve met through racing?

JN: “Some of the Indianapolis Colts players. Andrew Luck and Robert Mathis are like huge IndyCar fans. And they are some of the coolest dudes you’ll ever meet. They’re bad-ass football players but they’re really into race cars and they’re passionate about IndyCar racing.”